Kris Valentine

Weirdness in Normal, IL

by Kris Valentine,posted Jan 10 2009 1:02PM

Why does everything weird happen in Normal, IL? I found this story and just shook my head in disbelief. This is what I call "Thinking outside the bun...err I mean box". "I Do...Not want to give you my extra crunch taco". Where are the candles?

Employees displayed hot sauce packets labeled with the words "Will you marry me?" They decorated the restaurant with streamers and balloons. The bride wore a $15 hot pink dress and the entire wedding cost about $200. Several dozen guests looked on as the couple's friend, Ryan Green of Normal, administered the vows while wearing a T-shirt. He was ordained online. "This is the way to go — there's no stress," said the groom's mother, Kathy Brooks. Caragh Brooks, 21, of Australia, met Paul Brooks, 30, on an Internet dating Web site. They already had the same last name. The couple wrote back and forth and talked on the phone for nine months before Caragh Brooks moved to the United States. "We have the same brain, just in two bodies," Paul Brooks said. "We think alike in virtually every manner. We have the same interests, viewpoints." He proposed on New Year's Eve and, because they like to spend time at the local Taco Bell, they decided to wed there. "I would never have expected in my life in working here there would be a wedding," restaurant manager Carl Hamlow said.